Note: Europe was an early home to Homo erectus, Neanderthal and modern Homo sapiens. Agricultural settlements arose in the 7th millennium BCE. Advanced civilizations developed here in the Mediterranean area with Asian and African influences. Modern European nations began to form after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE. The late 20th and early 21st centuries have witnessed the formation and expansion of the European Union, a group of European nations allied for trade and some administrative purposes, such as a common currency.